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A Pythonic Power Query (.pq) File Manager for Excel & Power BI Automation

Project description

🌈 xl-pq-handler

🧩 A Pythonic Power Query (.pq) File Manager for Excel & Power BI Automation

PyPI Version Python Versions License


🧠 What is xl-pq-handler?

xl-pq-handler is a single-class Python library built for developers, data analysts, and automation engineers who work with Power Query (.pq) files in Excel or Power BI.

It lets you:

  • 🔍 Parse, search, and index .pq scripts
  • 📋 Copy Power Query code to clipboard
  • 🪄 Insert queries directly into Excel workbooks
  • 🧾 Maintain YAML-based metadata (name, category, tags, description, version)
  • 🔁 Export, validate, and refresh PQ indexes
  • ⚡ Batch-insert queries for rapid Excel automation

All from Python. No manual clicks. No clutter. 🚀


📦 Installation

pip install xl-pq-handler

Dependencies This package uses:

  • xlwings – for Excel integration
  • pyperclip – for clipboard operations
  • pandas, yaml – for data wrangling
  • csv, json, os, logging – built-in utilities

🧩 Quick Start

from xl_pq_handler import XLPowerQueryHandler

# Initialize handler (your PQ root folder)
handler = XLPowerQueryHandler(r"C:\MyPQFiles")

# 🔧 Build or refresh index
handler.build_index()

# 📚 Read all indexed queries
entries = handler.read_index()

# 🔍 Search for queries
matches = handler.search_pq("sales")

# 🧠 Get full PQ entry (including code)
pq = handler.get_pq_by_name("TransformSalesData")

# 🪄 Insert PQ into active Excel
handler.insert_pq_into_active_excel("TransformSalesData")

# 💾 Export the index to JSON
handler.export_index_to_json("pq_index.json")

📁 Folder Structure Example

MyPQFiles/
│
├── Sales_Transform.pq
├── Merge_Customers.pq
├── Region_Filter.pq
└── index.csv  ← Generated automatically

Each .pq file may optionally contain YAML frontmatter:

---
name: TransformSalesData
category: Sales
tags: [cleaning, merge, sales]
description: Cleans and merges monthly sales data
version: 1.2
---
let
    Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="SalesData"]}[Content],
    Clean = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Amount", type number}})
in
    Clean

⚙️ Key Features

Feature Description
🧾 YAML Metadata Parsing Reads and updates .pq frontmatter (name, tags, etc.)
📊 CSV Index Builder Auto-builds and maintains a full PQ index (index.csv)
🔍 Search Engine Keyword search across name, description, and tags
🧠 Metadata Updater Modify YAML frontmatter fields dynamically
✂️ Clipboard Copier Copy Power Query code directly to clipboard
📤 Excel Integration Insert queries into Excel (active or specified workbook)
Batch Insert Add multiple queries to Excel in one go
🧱 DataFrame Export Get PQ index as a Pandas DataFrame
Validation Tools Detect missing or invalid PQ paths

💻 Excel Integration Demo

# Insert a PQ into specific workbook
handler.insert_pq_into_excel(
    file_path=r"C:\Reports\SalesReport.xlsx",
    name="TransformSalesData"
)

# Insert multiple PQs at once
handler.insert_pqs_batch(
    names=["TransformSalesData", "Merge_Customers"],
    file_path=r"C:\Reports\MonthlyDashboard.xlsx"
)

🧾 Export and Analysis

# Export index to JSON
handler.export_index_to_json("pq_index.json")

# Convert to DataFrame
df = handler.index_to_dataframe()
print(df.head())

# Validate missing PQ paths
missing = handler.validate_index()

🧩 Advanced Use: Metadata Update

handler.update_pq_metadata("TransformSalesData", {
    "version": "2.0",
    "description": "Now includes quarterly adjustments"
})

🧰 CLI-Style Usage (Example Workflow)

# Step 1: Build your PQ index
handler.build_index()

# Step 2: Quickly search and copy to clipboard
handler.copy_pq_function("Region_Filter")

# Step 3: Paste directly into Power BI Advanced Editor 🚀

📘 Output Example (index.csv)

name category tags description version path
TransformSalesData Sales ["merge", "cleaning"] Cleans sales data 1.2 C:\MyPQFiles\Sales_Transform.pq
Region_Filter Geography ["filter", "region"] Filters by region 1.0 C:\MyPQFiles\Region_Filter.pq

🧩 Typing Support

✅ This package is fully type-hinted and includes a py.typed marker, enabling rich IDE autocompletion and static analysis via mypy or pyright.


📜 License

This project is licensed under the GNU-GPL 3.0 License — free for personal and commercial use. Feel free to extend, fork, or integrate into your analytics stack!


💚 Credits

Created with 💚 by Sudharshan TK

If you like this project, ⭐ Star it on GitHub!


“Automate the boring Power Query stuff — one .pq at a time.”


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